Host Ryan Finkelstein breaks down Jeff McNeil's hot stretch lately and the Mets win over the Yankees on Tuesday night.
Also, with Christian Scott heading to the IL, who will replace him in the rotation?
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It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. You are locked on Metz, your daily New York Metz podcast. The New York Metz keep the game, he's a game one of the Subway series on Tuesday night. I'll be breaking down that game in the first segment of the show today and speaking of that game, Jeff McNeill had another home run in the second segment. I want to talk about why McNeill is better than any player the Metz could have acquired at the deadline and then we're going to sort of bridge segment two and segment three with a column that Jeff Passen had today that really frustrated me. So I'll talk about that a little bit and that'll lead us into the final segment where I'll tell you about Christian Scott's injury, a UCL injury, which could mean the worst. We'll go through all of that and what are the implications for this team for the rest of the season, if you don't have Christian Scott in the fold, who is going to take that spot on the rotation? We'll go through all that in just a minute. Before we get into any of that though, I'm your host Ryan Fickelstein. If you want to find any of my work, follow me on X at Fickelstein-Ryan, you can also find some of my writing at justbaseball.com where I work as the managing editor. For those of you who haven't been listening to the show or watching the show the last couple of days and you aren't aware, the reason why you're not seeing me if you're watching on YouTube is because I am in Disneyland. I've been there the last couple of days, spending all my day at the amusement park and what that does for you is for wanting to give you some really sore feet. What else is hurting right now? My knees, man, are killing me. I'm getting closer and closer to 30 and the body feels it, but also it creates some very interesting habits when it comes to how I'm consuming Matt's content right now. Instead of watching everything I can, reading everything I can, watching every single pitch, I've been relegated to whatever comes across my feet on social media and then trying to watch the games, but MLB is killing me and they're blacking me out even though I'm in California and then Matt's are playing first it was the Marlins, now the Yankees, it makes no sense. I'm going to, with my day away from the parks tomorrow, I'm going to try to resolve that issue, but I've been forced to do the game day experience. I'm sure a lot of you have done this before, whether you have something with your family that you have to be at, maybe your coaching, your son in baseball, your son has a baseball game or a soccer game, whatever it is, and instead of getting to watch, you have to gain day. The entire Matt's game, just follow along on that stupid pitch tracker and see what happens and every time that you get a color that's not a green or a red and a ball's put in play, you hold your breath on either side of it. So it was a very interesting viewing experience for me to go through that game against the Yankees that was so close. And for one, wonder are the Mets ever going to score on Luis Heale? And two, wonder when is Carl, excuse me, Jose Quintana going to break down. The reason why I almost say Carl's Carrasco there is because this is actually my second time trying to record this segment. The last time, again, here's the issue without being home, my mic just stopped working I guess in the middle of it. So now I'm re-recording it and part of what I discussed when I was talking into thin air here is the fact that Jose Quintana, this year reminds me a lot of Carlos Carrasco in 2022. Yeah, there's going to be some matters where he gets knocked around, but there was a reason why going into this season, I was more confident in Jose Quintana than any other starter in this rotation because of consistency. And now you're starting to see that. From watching the highlights back, if I had been watching the game, I would not have been as stressed out as I was just following along on game day because he was executing. He was executing his pitches. He had a plan, and he knew who he wanted to attack, and he knew who he wanted to pitch around. And the main guy who wanted to pitch around. I think we're going to see this in tomorrow's game as well. Is Aaron Judge. Just don't pitch Aaron Judge. It's that simple. Aaron Judge came up to bat five times in the game the first four times. He was walked. And the last one, it was a fascinating at bat. And the most anxiety I had all day trying to follow along with who pitched that nine thing. But let's not jump to the end of the story. Let's talk about the rest of this game. And Luis Hill was just throwing the ball really well. And the Mets were struggling through a good part of the early portions of this game. Quintana was keeping him in there. The one run he allowed, a solo homer to Glabertura, other than that, he just found his way any by any to plot his way, and ultimately ends up with five innings pitched one run on that homer. Other than that, it was only two more hits that he allowed outside of the homer. He did walk five. And he struck out six. But he got you through five with a lead thanks to the Mets lineup and some pretty unbelievable contributions from Jeff McNeil. So first things first, fifth inning, he gets on with a swinging button. And to me, that's more important than the four home runs in five days that Jeff McNeil has hit. When a swinging butt lands, that's how you know Jeff McNeil is on. That's it. Now you know Jeff McNeil is good to go because he's all of a sudden finding the holes with as Gary Cohn would affectionately say his magic wand on the field and he's making some stuff happen. Granted, he also did hold the meds back on the bases today because he had a brutal read after getting on to lead off that fifth inning. Louise Torens got a base hit as well. Tyrone Taylor hits one that was the longest single ever and that's only because Jeff McNeil was going back to tag while Louise Torens almost ran past him and McNeil had to wave him off, get him back to second base because he just had such a bad read on the ball that it would have dropped that he could have been able to score on and instead he's standing on third base on a ball that was near the warning track. So that was a little frustrating. I didn't know all of that in the moment as I was following along game time or game day where I was legitimately just trying to figure out how it happened. So when I watched the highlight back it made a lot more sense. But regardless though, the meds had a chance to really score a bunch of runs there and they just couldn't do it. They just missed a golden opportunity to potentially pile on and instead he had Brandon Emo strikeout, JD Martinez fly out, that's the end of the threat, and Tana gets him through the fifth, sixth inning rolls around, Pete Alonso with a lead off double, Mark Vientos lined out and then here comes Jeff McNeil, who all of a sudden is a stud, he hits a home run which ends up being the difference in the game as the meds end up winning three to two. There was another run allowed, but you consider the bullpen had to cover 12 outs and one run allowed by that bullpen, you take it and it was Adam Montevino that gave up the run. He came on to get the first three of those 12 outs and just couldn't do it. Gives up a lead off single to Anthony Volpe, gets a ground out, but Volpe advanced a second then gives up a double to Alex Verdugo, which scores Volpe and all of a sudden it's way too dicey, way too close for comfort. So instead of trying to just see, okay, well maybe you can get Adam Montevino through that inning. Instead of even trying to play with that fire, he just went right to the bullpen and crossed Mendoza did to try to get out of the jam and it was Alex Young. New pitcher added to the Mets as Christian Scott went on the IL, we'll talk about that a little bit more in the next segment or actually in the final segment today as well as a little briefer again on who Alex Young was or is, but Young came on got two really big odds for the Mets as part of that bridge to your late inning guys. That's where Danielle Nunez came into the game and that was the part of my game to experience where I had faith came in an error. And again, game day didn't know what it was later. I saw it. Peter Lonzo makes an unbelievable diving stop, makes the flip to Nunez probably could have thrown it a little bit higher Pete, but not going to blame him after the play that he made there. Nunez can't catch it. So that puts a runner on, but Danielle Nunez finds a way to get to a zero one way or the other. He strikes that one Soto, there's a mound visit, they say, should we pitch to Aaron Judge? No, tangentially welcome, gets a fly out and then get to ground out to get out of the inning. So great work from Nunez to get to the seventh eighth inning. This was after a very frustrating inning of game day where Mark Vientos doubled after Peter Lonzo. It's single, Jeff McNeil walked a load of the bases, then a couple of strikeouts. Luis turns Tyrone Taylor to not do anything. So still keeping it a nail biter, Ethan rolls around here, comes Phil Maton and Maton did his job. You know, he walked a batter, but got through the eighth inning, ninth inning when it came to the time for the Yankees to hit. I was absolutely flabbergasted. I was stunned. I could not believe it. Is my app glitching here? I think to myself, does that say Jake Deakman is coming into the game right now? I mean, it makes sense that Edwin Diaz wasn't available, but Jake Deakman, I guess you think about it. Who else could go? Alex Young had already made a couple of, got a couple of outs. He pitched Adam Adavino pitch. Look at that. Burns too. New Diaz, Maton, two more. Diaz, Buddha probably can't go. All of a sudden you're like, what, how's we're going to close the game? So I guess ultimately it makes some sense, but man, it was pretty shocking to see Deakman march into the game. If you're in the ballpark, I'm sure Mets fans were losing it inside. They've watched him right out to the mound, but you know what? Jake Deakman got one of the best saves of the year, and he's got four in the season. Now, four out of seven chances isn't great, but he's got more saves than blown saves now, and it was ridiculous because he comes into the game probably, primarily I should say, because Juan Soto was batting second. That's why Mendoza looked at the matchup said, okay, we're going to go to Deakman here. You're getting Trenk Grisham to fly out face to Soto walks him, so that's off the table. What do you do with Aaron judge? Do you pitch to him? Do you not pitch to him? What's the decision here? You walked in the first four times he came up. Are you going to pitch to him? The choice was yes, and Jake Deakman located on a two to two pitch, a fastball that was low in or half, dotted, got it on the black, and it got Aaron judge. He just struck out looking, and that was the hugest out of the game. Then he gets a ground out, and all of a sudden he locks down the save, and the Mets win. Unbelievable game for the Mets to get 12 outs out of their bullpen. Strong start from Quintana, but this breakout from Jeff McNeil, it's worth spending some more time on, so we'll talk about that in just a minute, first though a word from our sponsors. This episode of Lockdown Mets has brought you by booking.com, booking.yea with summer travel heating up, especially travel for baseball games. It's time to explore those U.S. cities. You've always secretly wanted to learn more about. Yes, we're talking about your rival cities. With hotels, bed and breakfasts, vacation rentals, resorts, and so much more on booking.com, you might just find your perfect stay, even in your baseball rival city. The rights take can make you a fan of any U.S. city, even your rivals, so book today on booking.com on the site or in the booking.com app. Today's episode is brought to you by prize picks. Prize picks is the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports. Unlike other apps on prize picks, it's just you against the numbers. All you do is pick more or less than 2-6 player stat projections and watch the winnings roll in. Get in on the daily action with your friends and become part of the prize picks community today. You can now win up to 100 times your money on prize picks with as little as 4 correct picks, so you can turn 10 dollars into a thousand dollars. If you're looking for promotions, prize picks has got you covered every week. From lowering select player stat projections on Tuesdays to help your line of pit or getting your entry fees back if you have a losing line up on Fridays. Download the prize picks app today and use the code locked on MLB for a first deposit match up to $100. Again, that is code locked on MLB on prize picks for a first deposit match up to $100. Pick more pick less, it's that easy with prize picks. 24/7 on YouTube. Jeff McNeil all of a sudden is awesome. Just like we all had it written up, I gotta say, this revelation from Jeff McNeil coming out of the All-Star break has been unbelievable to watch but not entirely unexpected because you just can't have a guy who has been as good as Jeff McNeil has throughout his career. All of a sudden completely forget how to play baseball, how to hit and just put up horrible numbers. That does not happen and that's not to say that Jeff McNeil is going to have a good season. At the end of the day, he's going to have a season that's pretty bad and the grand scheme he thinks this is not going to Homer four times in every five game span from here on out. If he did, it'd be the most remarkable story and it sports honestly altogether because that would just be stunning. But my point through all of this is that Jeff McNeil, not even all of this rant I'm on, but my point from how I've covered Jeff McNeil this season, it has always been through the lens of this guy can't be this bad and early in the season, it was me having faith in Jeff McNeil. He was going to figure it out. The results got to a point where it was no longer defensible to have that take and so I started to wonder, okay, whose decks and lines are they playing a glacisiest and more? Is it calling up Luis de Helucunia? Is it calling up Luca Ritter? How are they going to get around Jeff McNeil's deficiencies? At one point, I was even thinking, could they trade Jeff McNeil? If you eat enough of his contract, could you deal him out and just make him somebody else's problem? That was a legitimate thing that I spent time on thinking about and even doing some research on it. I never actually made it onto a show but that's where we were at with Jeff McNeil. But through every turn, I always would point out that Jeff McNeil does have a track record of being good and I've said the phrase positive regression with Jeff McNeil too many times to count this season where a guy has such a bad first half that he's just due for, oh, the soft swingy bun actually falls for a hit this time. Oh, finally, instead of flying out, I'm driving the ball over the wall and I have four home runs in a five game span. This is Jeff McNeil playing baseball at his peak and that's just the home runs but we've been seeing it built between great defense at second base or in the outfield to hitting the ball hard and it's just right into Josh Bell's glove the other day or other times where he's hitting the ball hard into the outfield but somebody runs it down and makes a great catch. It's not to say it's all bad luck because it's not but it is to say that luck has not been on its side and if that starts to get on your side and you're putting together a better process, you're playing well, all of a sudden a lot of things fall into place and I think with Jeff McNeil there's always been that talk right about the golf game and all these things, how he's not focused on baseball and during this period where Jeff McNeil was really bad, I'm going to be honest, I'll hold my hand up and say it. I started to question things with Jeff McNeil and I'm not just saying five games cure everything although it does cure a lot from Mets fans but the reason why I bring all this up with Jeff McNeil again is just because this is a guy that has been really good in the past and now short sample, we're starting to see that again, Jeff McNeil has had a better career than almost anybody that I'll get traded at the deadline and I mean that because I don't know who gets dealt, yeah sure Luis Robert could go, does he and are the Mets and the Knicks? Absolutely not. So Jeff McNeil being good goes such a long way for this team because they're not going to get much better at the deadline and you know yeah you can trade for Jesse Winker right? But I've talked about that the positional fits not great so that alone is a problem, you can't trust Jesse Winker in the outfield but here's the other one, here's the wrinkle to it. Who's had the better career at Jesse Winker at Jeff McNeil? Jeff McNeil by a mile, yes Winker had an all-star season, it was good. Jeff McNeil has been much better for a lot longer. Okay now with that said as you're thinking about the idea of okay go ahead and get Winker, Winker has been great this year, I understand that but you have one guy who's been performing over his head and the other who has been struggling to keep his head above water. It is hard to have faith in McNeil just to say all right let's forget everything that happened but the upside is still there where it's so much better to roll the dice on Jeff to be a better player over the final couple of months than it is to give up prospects of significance for guy Jesse Winker who's going to be a free agent you're not going to want to sign him next year you're just not with all the top prospects the Mets have coming up Ryan Clifford, Drew Gilbert, Luis and Hella Koona, but I want to clog up that spot in the line I'm not to mention everything that could happen with Pinalonzo so you think about the idea of Jesse Winker it is strictly a rental and that doesn't make sense for the Mets because why give up anything of significance in your farm system for a player that's not going to help you beyond 2025 it just doesn't fit what we expect the Mets to do speaking of what we expect the Mets to do Jeff Passen had a column today that just rubbed me the wrong way as he talked about the Mets I want to go through that just a minute first though word from our sponsors today's episodes brought to you by game time game time is the fastest and easiest way to buy tickets for all the sports music comedy and theater events near you I use game time every time I go to the Mets game because it just makes my life so much easier from viewing my seat before I arrive so I know exactly what to expect to seeing all in prices up front so no hidden fees that come out out of nowhere and shock me instead with game time you just see exactly what you're purchasing and it's the place to go for last minute tickets I don't get my ticket until right before I walk in I scan the stadium I find the seat that I really want if you take the guesswork at a buying tickets with game time down the game time app credit account use the co-lock an MLB for $20 off your first purchase again terms do apply credit account redeem the co-lock an MLB for $20 off down the game time app today last minute tickets lowest price guaranteed if you're never to listen to the show make sure you become a locked-on Mets insider this is our texting service we get updates from me anytime some news breaks on the match you can also ask me questions anytime and take part in our locked-on Mets sign photo giveaways if you're gonna be locked on Mets insider you can find the link in the episode description go to subtext.com/lockedonmets now Jeff Passen today I wrote an article and it got screen garat grabbed by Mets Mariahs so this is how I was able to process this information today I want to give Jeff Passen credit I don't have the entire context although I sort of think the Mets Mariahs did put most of what you know Passen wrote out there and the biggest part of it was this idea of the Mets adding and subtracting and here's just the the close of it they got me frustrated he said stirs knows the perils are trying to add and subtract simultaneously but for a team with the future that needs more bright spots focusing exclusively on the present would constitute a mighty deviation from the plan hashed upon Stern's arrival and here's the frustrating part about this for me no one ever said that Stern showed up to lose this year now granted yes did he show up with a long-term vision in mind of course he did that's why he was hired I get it with the Mets have sold this year if they were out of the race absolutely but what frustrates me is Max Scherzer gets in front of the media in Texas last year they're getting traded and since the Mets are looking at 25 26 next year is going to be a bridge year and everyone has latched on to that and they have just held their minds there and they don't watch the games they don't pay attention what's going on and look I don't blame them for doing that okay I have two shows I have locked on Mets which takes most of my time when it comes to my podcast and I have a show who's better why cover all 30 teams for just baseball and we do a stream now once a week I do find myself I'm sure at times speaking on a team that I don't know as intimately as the New York Mets and so with that in mind I might you know say some things there talking about whatever team it is and I'm sure there is a fan let's just say it's the Reds that might come at me and first say I can't believe this is your opinion this is what's happening and you sort of have to defer to the fans so I'm not trying to just crush shift passing because he's not the only one that's done this but it feels like so many people have just wanted them as to sell this year so this idea that they're going to go into this deadline and not sell is like oh I missed the opportunity but they don't already have a good farm system that got better from a good draft and that can't continue to get better with more international signings done by this current front office all I've heard out of the current front office's mouth David Stern's in particular is wanting to win this year wanting to go to the playoffs believing that he had a playoff time he's team he said that so many times but people don't pay attention to it they just think about what should have happened and that's really frustrating because we've got to enjoy this Mets team the last couple weeks has proven that they're a really good club and it's you're looking at nearly a 50 game sample it's not just a couple high weeks so at some point some of the perception is going to have to change a little bit and it's not going to happen tomorrow but I think this is part of just the franchise the Mets have been that even in a year where they sort of went for it a little bit their rounds at the roster and a couple different spots made sure that they were shirt up they signed JD Martinez when they didn't have to this was all about 25 and 26 Mark Vientos would be playing first base Pete Alonso would be teaching and Brett Beatty be playing third every single day but it's not just about the future they have showed you step by step along the way they're about winning if they can and now that they're in position are they gonna all of a sudden sell something no they're not and they should and now there's even more reason not to because what you would have to sell is pitching and Christian Scott could be out for the year now we don't really know the full extent of it yet it's just a UCL injury they haven't given a diagnosis right now is on mat let's say five o'clock on the east coast recording this at two o'clock in the morning I haven't seen anything on Christian Scott's elbow yet typically these things end one way and we're not going to wish that on them so we'll see what happens but even if it is the better case scenario it's just a sprain you think Christian Scott's got a pitch for another month because I don't and that carries you pretty much through August Kodak Senga's coming back in this rotation that gives you a five-man group and they could get around Senga they could do bullpen games when Senga's ready to go maybe he tells them I am good to pitch on four days rest and your problems are solved but if they aren't what do the Mets do there's a couple of options right first things first you just bring back Tyler and Miguel it's easy it's clean you bring him back let him make some starts hopefully he pitches better he had flashes this year when he was good so maybe that is the answer for the Mets if it's not Tyler and Miguel who is it Jose Budo you need him in the bullpen all right so you're gonna you know was it Rob Peter to pay Paul that's what this would be for the Mets I think the only way they can do that with Jose Budo and slot him into the rotations if they have a great deadline add a couple arms that they trust and maybe that is the move personally I like Budo in the bullpen but with Christian Scott potentially out the Mets are gonna have to get creative and try to figure out what the best combinations of guys is moving forward the fact that Christian Scott hasn't pitched the best so far it doesn't really matter you see the top pitching prospect in this system go down with something elbow related that's going to be cause for concern and that's going to lead to a lot of very tight restraints on Christian Scott moving forward so I just don't expect him to play a huge role in this team anymore could he come back absolutely when I count on it I would not so that's where we're going to close the show today I am beat so I want to hit hit the pillow here go to sleep I appreciate all of you who continue to tune in each day thank you all for doing that as I'm gone to it really is awesome that you've made my show part of your day of the routine and that's why I try to make part of my routine to put together a show for you so just if you haven't yet I appreciate if you follow rate review wherever you get your podcast if you're watching on youtube hit that subscribe button we're trying to get to 10,000 subs on the year by the end of the season I appreciate all of you who continue to subscribe you follow me on x at finkles time ryan follow the show locked on meds thank you for making locked on meds you're first listening to your first watch every day after your second watch head over to youtube and check out the first ever 24/7 channel that's streaming covering everything in the world of sports with our local experts from each team and our ley experts from each league you find locked on sports today streaming 24/7 on youtube a prime members you can listen to this locked on podcast add free on amazon music download the amazon music app today
